


Partner Up

by Barbara_Lazuli



Series: Digimon Rangers [1]
Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F, are there other people out there who love digimon??, but they get cute digi pals, crossover of my two favorite cheesy franchises, they dont have powers, with color coded characters and theme of found family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-06 16:55:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20294851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barbara_Lazuli/pseuds/Barbara_Lazuli
Summary: What happens if they find the crests instead of the power coins? If they get digimon partners instead of zords?





	Partner Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [UnicornAffair](https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnicornAffair/gifts).

> Every season of digimon is different, so there is no set rules. In this fic i'll be combining some from every season and make up my own. I only ever watched until the fifth season, so whatever rules the following ones had i have no idea. I'll try to explain as best i can since this first part also sets up the worldbuilding, but here are some things that you might wanna know if you dont know anything about digimon:  
~ unlike in pokemon, kids are usually only allowed to have one partner digimon. tho there are rare instances where one kid will have two partners, or even two kids will share one digimon  
~ digimons can evolve as many times as the plot demands. they can even go back to their previous level for convenience since the higher level evolutions are usually really big.  
~ evolutions can branch out and have different versions, like when the digimon gets infected by a virus or something  
~ digimons can fuse to form a stronger digimon. maybe even fuse with their human partners  
~ evolutions are usually connected to their human partner's emotional growth. or sometimes it just happens when the plot demands them to use the power of love and friendship lol it's really cheesy
> 
> This fic is dedicated to you, Miss Mere, because I know how much you love these two franchises. Our friendship despite being in opposite ends of the world has meant a lot to me. You're like the older sister I wish I had! I wish you have a wonderful birthday today, and may this gift be only one of the many wonderful things you receive :)

"Don't break it, don't break -- oh, he broke it."

Trini watches the boy hit the glass with the pick ax as Jason Scott and Billy Cranston continue to warn him to stop. She may not be willing to do something so ballsy like Train Boy is, but she's curious enough to let him do what he wants and watch the outcome. Judging by the fact that Kimberly Hart is just standing beside her, holding up her phone's flashlight for a better view, the other girl probably feels the same way.

"Oh whoa," Train Boy gasps in awe as he holds up the item. 

Trini and Kimberly move closer to take one for themselves. With the help of Kimberly's phone, Trini sees that it's a small, a golden tag containing a red, translucent tablet, a symbol etched in the middle of it. Trini narrows her eyes.

"Is that... a heart?"

"Were you talking to me?" Kimberly asks from her right.

"What? No--"

Alarms blare and the five teenagers exchange panicked looks. Trini rolls her eyes. "Someone should have warned you guys about that. Oh wait, I did." The boys pay her no mind and take off. Trini huffs at being ignored but does the same. She hears footsteps behind her and almost gets a heart attack when she thinks that mine security has caught up to her. She looks back, relieved to find that it's only Kimberly who chose to run the same path as her. "Dude, where the hell's your shoe?"

Kimberly flushes in embarassment. "Don't worry about that." She picks up the pace, her much longer legs easily putting her ahead of Trini who growls in frustration. Kimberly points at the van speeding off a fair distance away. "That way!"

Trini chooses not to question it. She follows Kimberly and accepts Jason's hand for him to pull her in. She really should have just ran by herself and hidden somewhere. Because not five minutes later, the van all five of them were in gets hit with a train.

**1010101010**

Trini wakes up with a jolt. She looks around with crazed eyes, the light of the train, Kimberly's hand gripping onto her shoulder, and blue flames being all she remembers. But she's in her room, in the clothes she wore when she went to the mines. She checks her body for anything broken, but she's fine. She sighs in relief until she feels something in the pocket of her bomber jacket. She pulls out the same tag from the mines and more rummaging in her pocket produces a small device barely the size of her hand. It's a white compact device with red accents and a small screen in the middle.

"What the... is this some new kind of tamagochi or something?"

"You're finally awake?"

Trini jumps at the sudden unfamiliar voice. She looks around until she notices a lump in her blanket that's squirming, moving to the edge to reveal itself. Trini sees yellow pointy ears first before a creature crawls out. It looks like a small, really pudgy cat with bright blue eyes and a bushy tail. Its mouth opens with a squeaky yawn as it stretches. Trini almost thinks it's pretty cute with its sleepy blinking eyes, until it opens its mouth again to _speak_.

"Good morning, Trini," it quietly greets. 

Trini's eyes almost bulge out of her skull. She may be too fresh from sleep to scream, but it's never too early for her fighting instincts to kick in. So she scrambles out of her bed and grabs the swiss army knife her father gave her in case of emergencies. 

"What the _fuck_ are you?" Trini hisses, knife held at the ready.

The creature sinks back into her blanket, ears flat on its head. Trini notices it curl around tself, trying to hide one injured hind leg caked in dried blood. "I'm Viximon now."

"The heck's a Viximon?" she asks, prompting to ignore the worry she feels to first secure her own safety. "And what do you mean 'now'?"

"A digimon," the Viximon meekly answers. "And this is the form I have now because I'm too tired from helping you last night. It'll take some time before I can evolve again."

"Wha... Evolve?" Trini is so perplexed that she lets the arm holding the knife down. "Like a pokemon?"

The Viximon visibly relaxes when Trini puts the knife away. It blinks up at her again and tilts its head to the side. "The heck's a pokemon?" it asks in this stilted way that tells Trini it only tried to mimic the way she spoke. Like a child.

Trini's hand fly up to her scalp, grasping at her hair in exasparated confusion. "This too weird. I have to be dreaming."

"You can't be dreaming. You just woke up."

Trini lets her forehead hit the wall with a dull thud. "No. I'm dreaming. Stop talking, weird cat."

A knock on the door surprises both of them. "Breakfast is ready, Trini," June says from the other side of the door. "Hurry up before the twins eat your bacon."

Trini hears something rumble and her eyes fall on a sheepish Viximon. Trini sighs.

This can't be happening.

She tells the Viximon to leave her alone and go back to where it came from before she goes down to eat with her family. She could have shown it to her parents, but she knows they would have called for animal control or something. She doesn't what to think about what they would do to a talking cat-like creature. 

"Mrs. Welling told me that a car got hit by the train near the mines last night," June tells Tony.

"_Ay, dios..._ How're the passengers?"

"That's the thing. The car was empty. And they say that the roof of the van's damage didn't look like it was caused by the train alone. Her husband said it looked peeled open from the inside. And people in the mine security said they heard roars and the sillhouette of some kind of huge dog surrounded by fire." June shrugs. "I don't want to believe it, but his husband doesn't seem like one to lie."

"Probably a mountain wolf or something," Tony muses.

Trini stays quiet as her brothers ask their mother questions about the incident. When her mother is too absorbed with the twins and her father is distracted with his phone, she slips out with her plate of unfinished food and sneaks back upstairs. She passes their bathroom to fetch the first aid kit before heading back to her room. Her room looks empty at first sight, but she soon finds the Viximon behind the other side of her bed, reading a comic book issue featuring Wolverine and X-23.

"I thought I told you to go back where you came from, cat."

The Viximon's ears flatten, clearly upset. "I'm not a cat. And I can't leave you."

Trini sighs and holds up the plate. "You're hungry, right?"

It visibly perks up at the sight of food."Thank you," it says with a notably lighter mood when Trini places the plate on the floor so it could eat. 

Trini sits cross-legged in front of it and tries not to coo. No, nope. She shouldn't feel any sort of fondness for it. That's how you get attached. But Trini has always loved animals. If not for their constant moving, she would have been bold enough to keep a cat behind her parents' back. So she gives in to the urge to pet the creature, letting her fingernail softly scratch the top of it's head. When it questioningly looks back at her, Trini pulls her hand back. 

She holds out the first aid kit. "You're injured. I can help you clean that up. But maybe we should clean that in the bathroom first."

It stares at her. "That's very kind of you."

Trini shrugs. "You got it from saving me, right? From the train last night? I'm just returnig the favor. Are the other kids okay?"

It nods. "They weren't hurt. And I'm sure they're in their home right now."

"So you brought me home?" It nods again. "How did you know where I live?"

The Viximon struggles to bite at the bacon. It gives up and decides to eat the whole strip instead. "I just do."

Trini sighs. "Fine. Keep your secrets," she grumbles. With a clearer voice, she asks. "So, is "Viximon" your name?"

"Viximon is what I am now," it answers this time with a mouthful of scrambled egg.

Trini grimaces. "Swallow before talking. That's rude." Trini clears her throat when she realizes just how much like June she sounded just then. "So it's not your name? What should I call you then?"

This time, it swallows first. "I don't know. Whatever you want."

Trini's face scrunches up in thought. "You kinda look like a lemon so..."

Its round eyes narrow. "I'm not a lemon, either. _You're_ being rude to me, Trini."

"Sorry," Trini says but she's smirking. It huffs but continues eating. "Hey, how do you now my name anyway?"

"I just know. Ever since I came into existence, I've known of you."

"What does that mean?"

"It means we're connected," it replies without any hint of irony. "We're partners."

Trini shakes her head and stands. "Nope. I really can't take this. I can't take this bullshit."

It tilts its head. "Bullshit?"

"Nuh-uh." Trini wags a finger. "You don't get to say that word, only I can."

"But, why?"

"Oh God, you're like a child." Trini drags a hand over her face. "And I can't have some weird talking cat telling me we're 'connected'. This is weird enough as it is!"

"But I'm here to protect you from her."

"Who?"

"I don't know. I just know that you're my partner and I was programmed to help you stop her."

"Programmed? So you're a robot?"

"No, I'm a digimon!" it indignantly huffs. "How many times do I have to tell you before you get it?"

Trini groans in equal frustration. She grabs the tag and strange device and shoves them into her bag. 

"When you're done eating, I'm going to clean that cut," she tells it. "After that, you're getting inside this bag and we're gonna go back to the mines and find some answers to... whatever the hell is happening here."

**1010101010**

Trini is panting by the time she's sneaked past the gate. She really wishes she had a car of her own. The creature is heavier than it looks. 

"Alright. Tell me where you came from and I'll get you back home."

It pokes out of her backpack. "We can't. He said it's dangerous."

"Let me guess. You don't know who _he_ is either."

"Yes, I don't."

Trini huffs. "You don't know anything."

"I only did just hatch last night."

That makes Trini stop in her tracks. "You hatched from an egg?" It nods. "So you're really just a baby."

"That's the level I am now, yes."

"Fine. Then is there anyone we can go to who can answer my questions and get you home?" 

"We can go to _him_. There's a place between our world and yours where we can meet him."

"Lead the way, then."

It jumps out and Trini worries for its injured leg - now cleaned and bandaged - but it lands without a problem. Its stubby little legs move fast to make up for their short length. Trini is really tempted to pull out her phone and take a video. Maybe she should, as evidence that this morning wasn't just a fever dream.

"Hey. So are you a he or she?" It doesn't feel right for Trini to call it... an it. Trini adds when she remembers. "Or neither?"

It doesn't turn to face her as it leads Trini up the side of a rock face. "'She' is fine." It -- Her ears twitch. Her bushy tail starts swinging from side to side as she peeks down the edge of the rock that they have climbed. "They're here, too."

Trini looks down and frowns when she sees Train Boy at the same spot where they found the tags. He seems to be looking around for anything else he can find. It's good to know that he's fine. It would mean Kimberly, Jason, and Billy are fine, too. Trini is too far to to tell for sure, only knows that it's mostly white, but she thinks she can see him with a creature as weird as the one with her. 

"Is that a digimon, too?" Trini asks.

The Viximon nods. "Gomamon." She scrunches her nose at Trini. "He's very talkative." 

Trini hums. "Same as the human he's with." A distant shouting catches Trini's attention and she sees Kimberly, Jason, and Billy approaching Zack with companions of their own: a pink bird bigger than Viximon, a brown rabbit-like creature with huge floppy ears, and something the height of a toddler with claws wearing a pink hoodie with the hood covering its head. "Oh god, we all have one."

Trini flinches when she sees that they have noticed her. Train Boy shouts something and Trini grimaces.

"They're calling for you," the Viximon says. "We should go to them."

Trini shakes her head, "No. Last time I went along with them, I almost got hit by a train. No way."

"But you're fine. I saved you."

"You know what? How about you go with them instead? You go back home and I go to mine."

"You can't. You have to go to him first." When Trini turns to the other direction to leave, the Viximon bites at her shoelaces to tug her back. "You'll be fine, I promise. I'm here to protect you."

"I didn't sign up for this shit, cat. Now leave me alone!"

Trini tugs her feet back forcefully and instantly regrets it when the Viximon goes flying to edge of the rock. Trini barely thinks about her next action. She hisses, "Shit!" before reaching out to pull her back, only to run out of solid ground to stand on. She hears someone scream. She pulls the Viximon to her body, ready to take all the impact the fall would cause. But then she hears a device beep before she feels warmth, a bright red light blinding even through her eyelids. 

No pain comes. She only feels two arms cradling her. She opens her eyes and sees that they have landed safely on the ground, in the arms of what can only be described as a yellow fox that can stand on two legs. Although a tad different than the creature who had easily fit in her bag, Trini knows, based on the same blue eyes looking down on her and the bandaged leg, that this was the same Viximon that used to have stubby, short legs.

"Are you okay?" it asks, now with a deeper feminine voice. 

"Uh... yeah..." Trini owlishly blinks. "I guess you're not a cat after all," she says before the other teenagers and digimons run up to them to check on her.

**1010101010**

"Isn't this cool?" Zack says, the Gomamon who he calls "Gom" leisurely perched atop his head. They have since continued their trek up the mountain to where the digimons say they can meet the person who can answer their questions. "It's like my childhood dreams of having a pokemon just came true!"

Gom lightly pokes Zack with one of his claws. "What's a Pokemon?"

"Pocket Monsters!" Billy excitedly answers. He goes on to explain to the digimons what the fictional creatures are. His own digimon, a Lopmon that he named "Smoky", is poking out of his bag, silent and at the brink of falling asleep. 

Trini is very tempted to touch his floppy ears but she resists, paying close attention to the digimon that is Jason's companion. She let out an embarassing shriek when the digimon let down her hood during introductions minutes ago. Jason's digimon is an Agumon named "Terry", a yellow freaking _dinosaur_.

"She was hard to sneak her out of the house," Jason had said. "I had to steal Pearl's hoodie to cover her up."

"I really like the way these 'clothes' feel," Terry had said. "Can I keep it?"

While the boys talk about theories as to how this has happened, Kimberly is groaning to herself. "This is the weirdest Sunday morning I've ever had and I'm not even drunk."

Kimberly's digimon is a Biyomon named "Pidge" who had been flying over the boys' heads to listen to their discussion. When she hears Kimberly groan, she flies by her side to ask, "Are you okay, Kim?"

Trini can't see Kimberly's expression since she's walking behind them, but the other girl answers with, "This is just a lot to take in." When Kimberly turns her head to her digimon to say this, she suddenly notices Trini. "Hey. You didn't get hurt from that fall, right?" she asks probably due to the fact that she's falling behind

Trini forces her eyes to her feet, away from the girl who has decided to slow down and walk beside her. "Yeah."

"That was pretty cool," Kimberly remarks, leaning past Trini to tell the digimon walking by Trini's other side. "Evolution, right?"

"Yes. I was Viximon before, I'm Renamon now."

Kimberly makes some kind of thoughtful noise. "Why do all the digimon names end with 'mon'?"

The Renamon could only blink back. "... I don't know," she answers and Trini, who expected the answer, couldn't help a snort.

"Do you have a name that's less awkward to say?" Kimberly asks. After a beat, she adds, "No offense."

"No, not really."

"Hey, girls!" Jason shouts. They have gone farther ahead than they realized, now crowded at the edge of a cliff. "They, uh, said we gotta jump through here!"

Trini and Kimberly exchange a look before jogging over to them. They all look down the dark and deep crevice, a mixture of awe and fear evident in their faces. Billy picks up a rock to throw to the bottom, most likely to check for how deep it is. But they all gasp when the rock disapears in thin air, living strange ripples that distort the space around it before ripples eventually stop.

"That's -- I wasn't the only one who saw that, right?" Billy asks.

"Oh no, definitely not!" Zack says with excitement in his voice. "Where did it go?"

"It's on the other side already," Smoky sleepily says from over Billy's shoulder. "That's a rift that connects this world to ours - the Digital World."

Zack makes a face. "The internet?"

Smoky makes an equally confused face. "What's an inner net?"

"I don't think a net can be home to all digimons, Zack," Gom lightly says. 

Billy adjusts his bag so that it's hanging in front of him. "So if I walk through, I'll have my questions answered?" he asks Smoky who nods. "Okay."

"Wait," Trini says. "You can't seriously be thinking about going there."

Jason and Kimberly at least look hesitant. Zack may be too, but he looks too thrilled to see another world. Billy, meanwhile, is resolute. 

"My dad went missing in the mines ten years ago," he says and the mood suddenly changes. "They were never able to find his body, so everyone thought he died. But when Smoky told me about this rift, I think he ended up there somehow and never got back. I need to know for sure."

"Really?" Kimberly asks. "Just like that? What if _you_ don't get out? What if it's dangerous over there?"

Billy smiles down at the digimon in his bag. "I know Smoky will have my back."

Smoky smiles up at him, too. "Don't worry, Billy. I wonl't let anything bad happen to you."

That is all the assurance Billy needs. He stretches a foot past the edge of the cliff to dip his toe into the invisible rift, and he watches with awe when the tip of his shoe makes contact and creates a ripple. He shoots them one last nervous smile before diving feet first, disappearing into thin air before any of them could say a word. They all exchange glances before they jump in shock when only Billy's head reappears, as if he were peaking from behind an invisible curtain. 

His eyes are alight with wonder and excitement. "You guys _gotta_ see this!" he says before disappearing again. 

"Alright." Zack rolls his shoulders and slightly jostles Gom who is clinging to him. He grins at the rest of them and salutes. "I'll see you guys on the other side." He points and winks at Trini who scowls in return. "Especially you, Crazy Girl." Zack jumps, he and Gom whooping before they disappear.

"Come on, Jason," Terry says as she pulls on his hand. "Let's go, let's go!"

Jason sighs, scratches his head. "Well, if Billy's in danger, then I can't leave him alone with Zack Taylor, can I?" he says before the two of them jump in.

"Aren't you coming, Kimberly?" Pidge asks Kimberly who is still staring at the empty space where the rift supposedly is. 

"You'll have my back, right?" Kimberly asks.

Pidge nods without hesitation. "Of course.". She lands lands on the rocky ground to place a clawed wing on her chest. "I'm your friend, Kim. I promise you won't get hurt."

Judging by the way Kimberly is biting her lip, she isn't fully assured. But Trini can see that same wonder and interest in her eyes that she saw in Zack's, and that's probably what urges her to nod and step forward. She stops just at the edge before she turns around to regard Trini. "Aren't you coming?"

Trini buries her hands in the pocket of her jacket and ignores the Renamon's gaze. She feels her hand brush against the tag and device. She pulls out the former. "I only came here to get some answers and get her back home," she points a thumb at the digimon who is now taller than her. "I don't need to come with anymore."

"But you have to," the Renamon says.

Trini lets out a deep sigh. "No, I don't. We're not partners or friends or anything, so leave me alone."

The digimon's ears drop flat on her head. Just when Trini could no longer look at her dejected expression, Pidge comes flying in Trini's face. "Hey! Did you really have to say that? You're one mean little human!"

Trini gawks at the pink bird apparently scolding her. "Did you just --" the sound of Kimberly's muffled giggling interrupts her. Trini glares at Kimberly who shamelessly continues to look amused.

The Renamon doesn't say another word as she jumps into the rift. Trini ignores the pang of guilt in her chest. 

"Awe, see how sad she looked?" Pidge throws Trini one last displeased look before flying after her. 

Yes, maybe she did go too far. She didn't have to yell. But she's also very stressed with all that has happened. Reasons aren't always excuses, she knows, but she can no longer take back her words either. So she turns around.

"Hey! Trini?" Kimberly's voice makes her pause. Trini quirks an impatient brow. Kimberly sheepishly smiles and points at the water bottle poking out of the pouch of her bag. "Can I have a sip of your water? I'm dying."

Trini rolls her eyes and walks back to Kimberly to stiffly hand the bottle. "Just don't finish it."

"Thanks. And I'm sorry."

Trini's eyes narrow. "Sorry for what?"

She sees Kimberly's mischievous grin before two arms wrap around Trini to pull the both of them into the rift. It feels like diving into water, if water weren't cold nor wet, and Trini scrunches her eyes shut at the strange sensation. They both fall on the groud with a thud, likely painful based on the groan Trini hears. With Trini ontop of Kimberly, she only get to feel the impact against her knees.

"Ow," Kimberly says before laughing breathlessly. Trini feels the vibration on her cheek from where it's pressed against Kimberly's chest. "That felt weird."

Trini braces herself by her elbows to glare at Kimberly. "What the fuck, Hart?!"

Kimberly has the nerve to smirk, arms still around Trini's neck. "Oops. Also, I think I dropped your bottle outside."

How dare --

"Uh, guys..." a voice from below Kimberly says. Only then do the two girls notice that they're dogpiling Jason, whose back they probably fell on as they entered. "Could you get off?" he asks, voice muffled with his face still pressed against the ground.

Trini roughly untangles herself from Kimberly who takes it upon herself to help Jason up as their digimons fuss over them. Trini looks around and only sees white space, bare of anything aside from the grid lines on the floor. Trini tries to look for a wall, but either the room is too big or there are none at all. Just a big, empty space aside from five teenagers, five digimons, and a cluster of multi-colored pixels that is the rift they came in from. Trini sees the Renamon by herself, and the sullen look on her face hits Trini with another wave of guilt. She might as well have kicked a puppy. She _hates_ the thought of kicking puppies.

"Oh hey!" Just to worsen Trini's mood, Zack and Gom are approaching her. "Took you long enough, Crazy Girl."

She doesn't return his smile. "Is this the Digital World?"

"No," an unfamiliar, deep voice answers. More pixels materialize in front of them to from a faded projection of a bald man who looks a few years older than Trini's father. He has a stern look on his face, and he thoroughly sizes up each one of them. With his faded form that can be easily seen through, he looks like a ghost made of pixels. "You can't enter the Digital World; not yet. You're in the Grid - the space between that world and ours."

"Ours?" Jason repeats. "You're human?"

"I am." He looks down at his hand and his projection glitches for a second. "I was? Doesn't matter. I lived as Brian Zordon, a Ranger. Just like you, I had a partner digimon, a Datamon named Alpha. Before I died, he turned my consciousness into data so I could help the next Rangers. I don't know how long I've waited, but I'm glad you're all here now."

"Wait, wait," Kimberly interrupts. "Slow down, old man. Did you just call us _Rangers_?"

"Like a forest ranger?" Billy pipes up. "An animal ranger?"

A frown is carved in Zordon's aged face, and the pixels glitch again. "Not a normal ranger. A Ranger of the Digital World. With the help of your digimon partners, you are sworn to protect it and all creatures that inhabit it." He holds out a hand, and the tags they kept glow. "The five of you have been chosen by the crests."

"Uh..." Zack holds up a finger. "Correction. We just randomly picked these up. That's ridiculous."

Zordon shakes his head. "It wasn't random. Those crests symbolize the virtues each one of you embody."

More clusters of pixels materialize over their heads, each forming a symbol. Zordon goes on to explain each one.

"Reliability," he says about Jason's crest. The grey pixels form a cross with triangles at four corners. "The same as mine." Zack's crest is an orange sun. Zordon says that it stands for courage, and Zack shrugs and accepts the implications of it. Billy's crest is a yellow sun that would have looked similar to Zack's if not for the ray of light shining downwards. Zordon says that it means hope and Trini can agree that it's fitting. Kimberly's crest is a blue circle with curved spikes to the left and right, pointing at opposite directions. It means friendship, Zordon says and Kimberly frowns.

"Yeah, that can't be right," Kimberly says but Zordon ignores her and moves on to explain Trini's.

But Trini can already tell what hers means. She grimaces up at the huge red heart above her head, like a neon sign meant to mock her.

"Love," Zordon says and Trini scowls at the teenagers who don't bother to hold in their laughter.

"_You give looove... a bad name_," Zack sings off key and Trini punches his arm. Gom laughs despite being jostled.

"That wasn't very loving of you, Trini," Billy says with all seriousness in his voice.

"It's called tough love," Trini retorts before shoving Zack away for another bout of laughter.

"This is a serious matter, Rangers," Zordon raises his voice and the five teenagers settle down at the look on his face. "The Digital World has become a dangerous place. Rita, another Ranger who used to be my friend, betrayed us," he bitterly says and the pixels struggle even more to keep his form. "She let a dark digimon persuade her to attain power for herself. She let her partner get infected by a virus. We tried to stop her from spreading it to rest of their world, but my friends and I failed."

An abundance of pixels suddenly materialize inside the Grid. It fills the room like a flood and Trini distantly hears Smoky comfort a distressed and panicking Billy. Trini stumbles at the amount of pixels surrounding them. She feels two hands steady her by her shoulders and Trini scrunches her eyes shut when the flood of pixels reach past her head. 

When Trini opens her eyes, she finds herself standing by the forest, just outside the ruins of a temple unlike any other she has seen in history books. 

"You okay?" someone asks in Trini's ear and Trini flinches away from Kimberly. "Oh, okay, just askin'."

"Where are we?" Jason asks.

Their companion digimons, unlike their confused partners, are looking around with a mixture of sadness and awe. They hear rustling from the woods and soon Zordon emerges, looking more solid and clearer than the projection they saw earlier. He looks disheveled and filled with injuries, the side of his head bleeding with a worrying amount of blood. He's being supported by something that resembles a robot. It must be the Datamon Zordon claimed to be his partner. He also sustained damages. The dome atop of his head is cracked open in the same area as Zordon's head wound, the visible circuits crackling with sparks. 

"Alpha, stop," Zordon says. His digimon looks hesitant, but he heeds his request and settles him down the steps leading to the temple. "I won't make it."

"Aye-yi-yi," Alpha exclaims in distress. "No, no, no. I won't let her! I... I still have strength left in me. I can still protect you!"

Light surrounds Alpha's body, likely attempting to evolve. But Zordon shakes his head and the light disappears. "You should run away." He reaches into the collar of his shirt and pulls out the crest, identical to Jason's if not for the crack in the tablet. "You won't be able to match his level anymore. Take it." He places it on the metal tubes that serve as Alpha's hand. He takes out from his pocket four more crests, all just as damaged. "I took theirs too when Rita... I don't know when the crests will be able to restore themselves. We need to give them time. Relocate them to the human world for the next Rangers and seal the portals. Hopefully, the crests would have chosen new Rangers before Rita finds a way to destroy my world, too. You can hide there. Guide the new Rangers."

"But I can't do that," Alpha says. "I can't leave you here. What kind of partner would I be if I just let you die?"

"Please, Alpha."

"No! The new Rangers need _you_." Alpha raises his free hand. His eyes light up and so does the entirety of Zordon's body. Just as Zordon loses consciousness, the light disappears. Tears fall from Alpha's eyes, but he isn't even given enough time to mourn.

A deafening roar shakes Trini's bones before a strong gust of wind almost pushes them flying off the ground. Alpha yelps, seeming to recognize what is coming, and runs into the temple.

"Holy shit!" Zack screams when a huge black dragon lands by the temple, even crushing a few trees in its wake.

It's a terrifying sight. Midnight black scales with six pairs of wings on its back. Sharp golden nails dig into the soil when it lands. The golden plate of armor atop its head fails to hide its terrifying snarl. 

Trini has to remind herself that this isn't real. Zordon just wanted to show them what happened before and after his physical body's demise. But she still can't help trembling of her knees. The digimons sense their fear and protectively stand in front of their partners. Even the Renamon Trini rejected doesn't hesitate to stand between her and the beast.

It shakes the earth when it charges at the temple with its thick head. But the old building doesn't budge.

"Oh, looks like I didn't get to finish you off," a woman's voice drawls.

Someone new emerges from the forest. It's a woman in green robes who Trini would have mistook as human if not for the three pairs of black wings on her back. She crouches in front of Zordon's body and tuts, disappointed. But then she grits her teeth and stands.

"Goldar!" she barks. "Where are the crests?!"

The dragon opens its mouth. To Trini's surprise and horror, it speaks, "Alpha must have them." It jerks its head to the temple. "He's inside. I can't go."

The woman clicks her tongue. "Fine." She pats Zordon's head. "I wanted you to watch all your friends die in front of your eyes, but you didn't even last long enough for the best part. Oh, well. Eight out of nine isn't so bad."

A beam of light shoots out of the temple and the woman's brows furrow in confusion. Grid lines appear briefly in the sky, flunctuating into an assortment of colors before disappearing back to blue like nothing happened.

"What was that?" the woman asks.

"I don't know," the dragon answers with a growl. "But I don't like it."

The woman stretches her arm and reveals from her sleeve long, blood soaked claws. "That tin can is really asking for it."

The woman enters the temple. Whatever happens next, none of them get to see. Their surroundings glitch until they are surrounded by pixels again. Soon, they are back in the emptiness of the Grid, Zordon's ghostly form staring back at them.

"That was..." Kimberly starts but doesn't get to finish. What else can one say, really?

"Did Alpha get away?" Billy asks. 

The grim look in Zordon's face is all the answer they need. "I apologize for terrifying you. But I needed all of you to understand what's happening."

"Who was that?" Jason asks. "Was that Rita? I thought she was human."

"She was. But she gave up her humanity to fuse with a dark digimon. Now she and her digimon have been tormenting the Digital World. There are other digimons fighting back, I'm sure, but it's only a matter of time before she wins. It's only a matter of time before she finds a way here with her horde and do in this world what she did there."

Trini's stomach churns at the memory of that beast, at the sight of Rita who thinks nothing of killing an old friend. The thought of them coming to their world...

"And what do you want us to do?" Trini asks. "Fight that monster? Kill Rita? How do you expect us to do that when we're just kids?"

"Yeah, uh..." Zack says and looks down at his crest. "I know this thing says I'm _courageous_ or whatever, but I'm not completely suicidal."

"Trust me, I have been in that position," Zordon says. "I was also terrified of the danger it would bring. But you have to understand what's at stake here. Your partners' home, _your_ world. If you don't do what you have been chosen to do, then both worlds are doomed."

Trini looks at the crest in her palm. Her teeth clench and her fingers clamp over the cursed thing. "Then this thing should have chosen someone more suitable." She opens her hand and the tag drops on the ground with a sharp thump. "Leave me out of this."

She turns to leave for the rift. Passing it is just as strange as the first time, and her body takes time to adjust to the shift in gravity and atmosphere. She squints up at the sun. It's afternoon already. June is going to kill her for skipping lunch. She sighs and picks up her discarded water bottle but doesn't get up from her crouched position. The projection she just saw keeps replaying in her head. The image of Zordon's battered body, Alpha's distressed cries, Goldar's deafening roar... The apathetic look in Rita's face when she stared at Zordon's corpse. Trini buries her head in her knees, practically curls into a ball.

It's all just too much for a Sunday, really. She feels even worse when she remembers that she still has school tomorrow.

"Hey." She hears Kimberly murmur before a hand lightly touches Trini's shoulder. "'You okay?"

Trini flinches away. Kimberly frowns but takes a deep breath to keep her patience in tact. Pidge, however, doesn't bother hiding her frustration.

"I'm not, obviously," is Trini's tight reply. "You can't honestly believe that whole crest thing, right?"

Kimberly's fingers play with the ends of her short hair. "No, I don't. Pretty sure I'm far from the embodiment of friendship."

Trini lets out a sharp, humorless breath. "Oh yeah. Damn right." When Kimberly raises a brows, Trini elaborates, "Locker room gossip, Princess. It was all the girls talked about."

Pidge looks confused. She asks Kimberly, "What does she mean by that?"

Kimberly's face flushes in shame. "I --"

"Well, that was interesting," Zack's voice interrupts. He leisurely jumps out of the rift before shooting the two girls a grin. Gom is playfully dangling from his arm, and Zack easily swings him with amusement. "If I refuse to be a Ranger, am I gonna be forced to say good bye to you?"

Gom hums in thought. "I hope not. You make really tasty steamed buns."

Zack gasps and stops the swinging. "Oh so you're only after my cooking? What am I, chopped liver?"

"What's a liver? Is it tasty?"

Kimberly turns to Pidge. "Would you have to go back to the Digital World if we refuse?"

Pidge looks down. "I don't know. But I don't want to leave you, Kim. I just met you." She hugs Kimberly's leg. Kimberly helplessly looks to Trini, but the girl turns away. "I don't want to say goodbye so soon."

"Didn't Zordon say that the way there is closed?" Trini says. "How does he expect us to ki-- defeat Rita if we can't even get there?"

"Oh yeah," Zack says. "Wanna go back and ask?" he cheekily grins but Trini only blankly looks back. 

Billy and Jason finally come back from the other side with Smoky and Terry. Billy is restless with energy when he speaks, "Zordon said that it's possible my dad ended up there before the connection between the Digital World and our world closed. He could really be alive."

"Dude, he could just be saying that to get you to be Ranger," Zack says.

"Yeah, maybe. But maybe my Dad could really be out there."

"But didn't you see how dangerous it is out there?" Kimberly says. "Billy, even if he is there, what if he'd somehow run into Rita or her digimon?"

Jason surprises them when he's the one to reply, "Then all the more reason to try. Billy has to know if his father is out there. Zordon said that only the people who possess the crest can get there. Since it's dangerous out there, Mr. Cranston won't have all the time in the world to wait. And it's not just our world that's in trouble." He smiles down at Terry and fondly places a hand on her head. "We gotta do this for them, too."

Trini's eyes stray to the ravine, where rift deceptively resides. The Renamon hasn't come back yet.

And she never does.

**1010101010**

Trini gets an earful from June by the time she gets home. She does her chores to appease her mother, but also mostly to get her mind off the day's events. If only there were a way to clean off this feeling of guilt in her chest. 

After dinner, she lays in bed and stares up at her ceiling as she berates herself. She was an ungrateful coward. How could she say all of those things? She was stressed, sure, but it was no excuse to lash out at the one who has saved her more than twice. 

With a frustrated groan, she gets up and grabs the device she still had in the pocket of her jacket. She squints at the screen and buttons. She's sure this thing beeped when Viximon evolved to Renamon. That must mean that it's connected to the digimon, right?

Trini blinks. She holds the device by her ear like a cellphone and clumsily mutters, "Hello?"

Nothing happens and Trini flushes in embarassment.

"What are you doing?" a voice asks and Trini yelps.

"Trini?!" June's voice carries over through her room's open door. "What's the matter?"

Trini's eyes flit from her open door to the Renamon who is perched atop her roof. She runs to the door and shouts back, "Nothing! A butterfly just flew through my window!" before locking it shut. June says something about closing her windows but Trini leaves her unanswered. "What are you doing here?"

The digimon looks sheepish as her ears flatten. "I wanted to check on you, just in case. I wasn't going to bother you, but I saw you talking to your digivice."

Trini rolls her eyes. "Of course, that's what this thing is called." But another wave of guilt hits Trini. She doesn't deserve to have this digimon still care about her. "Could you come inside? I don't want our neighbors calling animal control on you."

Her ears perk up. "Okay," she says and does as told.

Trini bites her lip. "Look, I want to apologize. I shouldn't have said those things to you." Her eyes stray to the leg she bandaged. "You've been nothing but good to me. I don't think I've even properly thanked you." She makes sure to look the digimon in the eyes when she says, "Thank you."

Something that Trini has found that they have in common, is that the digimon rarely smiles. In fact, this is probably the first time she's seen her do so. "You're welcome."

Trini scratches at her cheek. "And, uh, for the record, that monster Zordon showed us? And that huge dragon? I'm still freaking terrified of them." She takes a moment to breathe in a lungful of air before she lets it out. "But I've been thinking all day about it. And Jason's right. We _do_ still have to try. I still don't think I'm fit for this, especially the fucking crest of love, but I'm going to try. Not just for our world, but yours, too. I told you I'll get you home. And I still haven't done that. So I will."

The digimon shakes her head. "You're wrong, Trini." She holds out her paw and reveals Trini's crest. "I think you're perfect for it."

Trini huffs but takes the crest back. "Yeah, whatever." Her eyes narrow in thought. "So if I'm doing this thing, I'll still need a name to call you. And I don't want to decide." She's had her mother decide things for her her whole life. She doesn't want to do the same thing to her. "You pick."

The digimon looks down at Trini's bedroom floor before she picks up the comic book she'd been reading this morning. She holds it up so Trini can see the cover where Wolverine and X-23 are striking poses with their claws out. "I like her name," she says with her tail gently swishing. "Laura."

Trini takes the comic book and squints at the characters. "Huh. You're sure?" When the digimon nods, Trini lets a small smile form in her lips. "Alright. Nice to meet you, Laura."

**Author's Note:**

> Just so you know, the digimon that I turned Goldar into is the Shadow Lord version of Lucemon (that one looks really scary, man) while Rita fused with Laylamon
> 
> I have a plot in mind for this series, but following fics will most likely be fun oneshots. Hope you liked this one. Tell me what you think!


End file.
